It is common in today's computing environment to present information to a user in graphic user interfaces (GUIs). A suitable user interface screen may include, for example, a display region and a number of user interface controls, which may be presented in the form of menu bars. The menu bars may be expanded (i.e., in a drop down menu) to display various selectable options. Typically, the number of interactive functionalities that a user interface allows is proportional to the number of options displayed in connection with the menu bars on the user interface screen. Thus, the higher the number of options the harder it becomes to display the options in an organized and unobtrusive fashion on the user interface screen. The challenge is especially great when a considerable amount of valuable information is being displayed on the screen, which should not be covered by an overlay menu, and/or the display space allocated to the user interface screen and/or the menu is relatively small, for example, in a handheld device such as a personal digital assistant (PDA).
Conventional approaches to the above challenges have included such arrangements as providing sub-menus to a consolidated main menu, where the sub-menus may only appear when the user selects an option from the main menu. Unfortunately, when the sub-menu is expanded from the main menu, the entire nest of menus still takes up a lot of screen space. In the arrangement in which the main menu is made to disappear when the sub-menu appears, the user faces the difficulty of being unable to backtrack if the sub-menu turns out not to be what the user desires.
Other typical approaches to the above problem include restricting the number of options that the user may access in a particular user interface screen. The options that the user may access in association with a particular user interface screen may be pre-determined, for example, by a computer system based on what's been displayed on the user interface screen. Alternatively, the options may be user determined, for example, through user selections. A problem with these arrangements is that the system or the user cannot accurately anticipate which options the user may wish to access in a particular user interface screen and, therefore, may create unnecessarily restrictive menu options. These may frustrate the user.
A different and less frequently used approach to the above problem is a “bullseye” menu in which options are presented in progressively outward-expanded concentric cycles, much like a shooting target with a central bullseye. The options in circular layers that are closer to the center are higher level options. Associated lower level options may be displayed in additional circular layers that may be farther away radially from the center. One advantage of a bullseye menu is faster user selection. For example, by allowing the user to directly move a mouse pointer to a desired option in one of the concentric layers. Selection speed associated with this direct movement, calculated based on Fitt's law, which predicts the time required to rapidly move from a starting position to a final target area as a function of the distance to the target and the size of the target, is much faster than selection made from a traditional menu, such as a drop down menu. A disadvantage of the bullseye menu, is its rigid format, which requires an entire circular layer to be added to the outside of the concentric circles when a single option beyond the current outer layer is to be added. This expansion may sacrifice an unnecessary large amount of screen area. The bullseye menu's circular format also does not allow easy linear mapping of user selection steps through the layers.
In view of the above, a need exists for an improved way of presenting menu options on a user interface screen to provide easy access to desirable options and to minimize occupation of display space on the user interface screen.